1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to structures by which panel elements are mounted in openings in static structures, and is particularly applicable to a doorway side light that contributes support to a door jamb.
2. Prior Art
Doorways such as exterior entrance doors for residences typically have one or two door panels that are carried on frame members fixed in an opening. Each door panel swings on hinges attached to a vertical frame member or jamb. There is a hinge-side jamb and a latch-side jamb. The hinges define vertical hinge axes, and the center of gravity of the pivoting door panel, which corresponds more or less with the center of the door panel, is cantilevered or held at a horizontal distance from the hinge axis of the door. Thus the weight of the door panel is applied to the jamb that carries the door panel, in a direction that urges the jamb to tilt toward the door panel. The specific direction changes, because the door panel is hinged and movable between open and closed positions in which the tilting or sagging force is perpendicular to the plane of the doorway or perpendicular, respectively.
A door and its frame members, including laterally spaced vertically elongated door jambs and a top frame or header, can be fitted and assembled in place, but it is convenient and often more accurate to use a door that is pre-assembled for installation as a unit (usually termed xe2x80x9cpre-hungxe2x80x9d). The installation involves carefully placing and affixing the finish frame that carries the door panel, in a rough framed opening that is slightly larger than required by the finish frame. The extra space is used not only for clearance when maneuvering, but also to permit adjustments to be made as necessary, so that the finished door frame will be nominally positioned.
It is possible deliberately to place the hinge axis of a door so as to tilt slightly. An inward tilt causes the door to swing closed when unsupported, and vice versa. However it will be assumed for purposes of this description that the building wall is nominally vertical and the door hinge axis is intended to be vertical as well (so there is no tendency of the door to swing open or closed). In that case, it is still very common that the rough framing members defining the opening may not be positioned exactly correctly. The door jambs nominally need to be coplanar with the wall of the building and vertical. The jambs must not only be vertical and parallel, but also should be precisely at the same elevation so that the header is horizontal and parallel to the sill.
Windows comprising sashes in frames, and pre-hung doors comprising a panel hingeably attached to a jamb of a frame, normally are installed in rough openings by means of wedges. The frame is placed in the rough opening, which as noted above is slightly larger than necessary. Wedges or shims that are inclined in opposite directions are slid over one another at spaced points around the frame, such as at two points along each elongated frame member such as a jamb or header, to adjust the spacing between the frame member and the edges of the rough opening. By incrementally increasing and decreasing the spacing at the respective points, the frame members are adjusted in position. This technique can be used to ensure that the frame members are mutually parallel and perpendicular, and to center the frame in the opening. After the frame is accurately placed, nails or screws are driven through the wedges to fix the position of the frame.
The rough framing members provide the ultimate load bearing function. The finish framing members, such as the jambs, carry the door panel by transferring the load to the rough framing members through the wedges. The wedges provide the rigid connection with the load bearing rough framing members. Although the wedges simply fix the width of gaps between the finish frame members (e.g., the jambs) and the rough framing studs at spaced points, they wedges provide a sufficient structural connection to bear the weight of the door panel. The gap between the jambs or other finish frame elements and the remainder of the wall can be stuffed with insulation and covered with moldings that conceal the gap between the jambs and the rough framed wall.
The foregoing technique basically involves building a rectilinear panel (such as a window or doorframe) and mounting it in a rough framed opening. The panel is not so much a structural element as it is a device that occupies a position, being mounted in a frame that is expected to provide any necessary structural support for the building by distributing and bearing loads apart from applying the loads to the panel.
For doors, especially for heavy solid wood doors and the like, it may be advisable to pay particular attention to supporting the jambs. The jamb on the hinge side will be especially subject to sagging forces from the door panel. A hinge-side jamb can be affixed to the rough framing members for support. The framing supporting the door jambs can be accomplished with doubled or tripled studs or similar reinforcing structural members. In this connection, a conventional rough framed opening may have doubled or tripled combinations of full length studs known as king studs, and shorter studs known as trim studs and cripple studs, which are attached along the sides of the king studs so as to extend under and over the horizontal header. In this way, the door jambs, particularly on the hinge side, can be intimately attached to the rough framing to solidly support the weight of the door.
In certain doorway and entranceway arrangements, problems associated with supporting the door jambs (or supporting a window or another sort of panel device) are compounded by the fact that areas immediately adjacent to the jambs of the frame on one or both sides, are occupied by decorative panels. For example, in an entranceway, so-called sidelights may be provided at a position laterally adjacent to the door jamb on one or both sides. This may comprise a decorative structure with panels and/or window panes (transparent or translucent) that occupy the full height of the door on either side. Inasmuch as this space is occupied by decorative panels, the nearest heavy load bearing rough framing members are on the lateral outsides of the entranceway. They are not simply on the lateral sides of the door jamb, which area is occupied by the door sidelights.
A typical entryway as discussed in most of the examples in this description has a traditional single door panel, but two panels are likewise apt. Two panels hinged at lateral outside jambs are a traditional configuration known as French doors. According to one possible arrangement, there are fixed side panel structures disposed symmetrically on both lateral sides of an entrance way, each being narrower than the width of the door panel. Such a side panel could be provided on only one side and if on both sides may be non-symmetrical or of some other width. Additionally, there are various specific structures of decorative side panels. They may have full height single decorative panels or several smaller panels. They may be configured with some transparent or translucent panels and some opaque panels. All the panels might be opaque, etc.
All these arrangements have at least one decorative panel mounted on at least one side of a jamb, and are apt for the structure according to the invention. The usual nature of the structural connections provided in a structure comprising panels as described, is that the panels are self contained unitary or modular structures that are mounted on the larger arrangement. The panels are placed adjacent to one another or hung in an array using framing members such as mutually perpendicular rails and stiles. This places the panels where appropriate for decorative purposes, but the panels do not contribute substantially to the structural strength of the construction. Instead, the panels are decorative place holders only.
Whether such panels are doors or sidelights or transoms, they typically comprise box-like panels that can be solid or sheathed. In a sheathed arrangement for a door panel or a sidelight panel, the sheathing, such as sheet metal or a plastic molding, must be turned around right angles at the corners and typically joined at some form of seam whereby the sheathing material defines a hollow box that can remain hollow or can be filled with some form of structural reinforcement or thermal insulation.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,022,206xe2x80x94Shield et al., which is hereby incorporated in its entirety, discloses an exemplary conventional entranceway arrangement, which also employs foam core construction. The movable door panel, which obviously is discrete because it is independently movable, and also a number of discrete panels that are disposed along the lateral sides of the door, are carried on frame elements. The frame elements comprise a header and a sill at the top and bottom of the entranceway, two laterally outermost peripheral frame members that extend between the ends of the sill and header, and two intermediate frame members spaced inwardly from the peripheral frame members, which function as the hinge-side and latch-side door jambs. The decorative sidelights are disposed between the door jambs and the lateral outside frame members. The sidelights are substantially the same as windows, namely discrete unitary panels in which one or more glass panes are mounted in a frame. The sidelight frames are placed in the space between the door jambs and the peripheral frame members. They are decorative panels inserted into the structure rather than structures that are intimately attached to one or more of the peripheral frames, the jambs and the header and sill. At times, blocks were inserted into such structures to provide points of attachment; however their function was still more decorative than structural.
In Shield et al., portions of a sidelight structure have a sheet metal skin, and a foamed core is disposed between the spaced sheets forming the skin. A core as described is light in weight, and provides good thermal insulation. In addition, the foam can conform to any particular shape or dimension. Shield uses the foam core in a door panel and in portions of a side light that form a frame around glass panels. The foam core is contained in part by plug members that are provided at certain ends of the respective panels between the skin sheets, and define boundaries or perimeters for the volume occupied by the foam core. Thus, for example, the plug members are disposed between the sheets around the outer edge of the door panel. The plug members are useful not only for bounding the volume, but also present a solid edge of a material other than foam, which can be mortised for hinges or a lockset, and can receive fasteners, etc. The resulting panel construction, for example for the door, is very much the same as a door built in some way other than using a foam core, for example having rails and stiles holding panels. The door is mounted on hinges in a conventional manner.
The Shield sidelight panels, comprise glass panes in a peripheral frame having foam bounded by skin and plug members. Thus the sidelight panels also have to be treated in the same way as self contained panels having other internal structures, which are monolithic bodies that must be affixed in an entranceway.
Windows are frequently treated as monolithic decorative inserts into a framed space, whose structural contribution to the whole is limited. For example, windows are mounted with spaced wedges that are such that the windows only actually engage the framed elements at spaced points. Entranceways are also treated in a manner very similar to windows, in that the entranceway is merely placed in a framed entranceway opening. The entranceway is structured to withstand the weight of the door panel and also various opening/closing loads and related loads that may arise, for example, from slamming of the door, wind action driving it open, children swinging on the door, etc. The door panel may contribute to the structural support of the overall structure when closed, but for the most part the door panel is not helpful for structural support. Instead the panel merely occupies a space and needs support instead of contributing support. Similarly, door sidelight panels, which are nothing more than windows that do not open, are panels that occupy the space between the jambs and the peripheral framing. The sidelights panels are not integrally attached to the other framing elements and serve to decoratively occupy space rather than to contribute structural strength.
Thus, in the example of a doorway, the structurally pertinent elements are the rough framing elements that bound the doorway and open a space. The rough framing elements are arranged to avoid reliance on the door jambs and entranceway frame for structural support. Instead, the rough framing is structured to support the weight of the structure around and over the entranceway. A heavy header member of plural studs or two-by-sixes is disposed over the vertical framing studs at the lateral sides of the opening. The vertical stud are doubled or tripled, including full length xe2x80x9ckingxe2x80x9d studs, xe2x80x9ccripplexe2x80x9d studs abutting under the header from above and xe2x80x9ctrimxe2x80x9d studs extending along the king studs under the header. The entranceway, including the door jambs, lateral frame members, header frame and sill, occupy the space reserved in the framing.
Doorways and doorway sidelights conventionally are much the same as windows. A rough opening is provided in the framing studs. The sidelight is provided as a pre-assembled finish framed element that is mounted in the rough opening. The sidelight frame is a discrete module that is placed coplanar with that wall at a predetermined depth. Wedges are placed along the sides, top and bottom and the thickness of the wedges is varied until the sidelight frame is rigidly positioned. Fasteners such as screws or nails are extended through the finish frame elements and the wedges into the rough frame elements. For external doorways, insulation is stuffed into the wedge-defined gaps. Moldings are installed on the inside and outside of the wall, to bridge over and conceal the wedge gap.
A critical aspect of such doorway sidelights is that they occupy the space laterally adjacent to one or both door jambs. The sidelights, which often are of minimal thickness and comprise glass panes, effectively displace the structurally supportive studs and framing members that might be located at and attached to the door jamb, with decorative non-supportive structures such as window panes. The lack of this structural support can be a problem, especially for the hinge-side door jamb.
Door panels and window panels are often structurally similar. A door panel having a door light (i.e., a window pane mounted in the movable door panel), has a peripheral frame part holding the window pane. Similarly, a window with a stationary pane or a movable window sash (i.e., a pane fixed in a movable frame), has a pane similarly carried in a peripheral frame. It is known to make door panels and windows with foam cores. Among other things, the foam core provides a form of thermal insulation between the inner and outer sides of the door or window. A sheet metal skin can face the panels. For the edges, the skin is typically folded around the ends, but it would also be possible as in Shield et al., to use wood or similar plug members to form the edges between the sheet metal skin parts. Such doors and windows, like doorway sidelights and decorative doorway side panels, are substantially nonsupportive structures that displace supportive framing structures that could otherwise occupy the same space.
It would be advantageous, and it is an aspect of the present invention, that structures such as door sidelights and fixed pane windows are optimized to make a substantial structural contribution to the structure, such as an adjacent doorjamb, instead of being used simply as a nonstructural decorative add-on to other members that function as load bearing elements. To accomplish this, these otherwise decorative structures are structured appropriately and are intimately and integrally attached to one another and to other structural parts, so as to form a series of securely attached rigid members, as opposed to a frame in which space has been reserved to hang a nonstructural panel.
According to the present invention, this is achieved in part by intimately attaching the decorative part to the framing parts using a mechanical engagement held by a cured foam body. It is known to provide foamed cores in building panels, doors and the like, for example to improve their thermal insulation properties as compared to solid wood or other panel material. For doors and also the decorative portions of entranceways that are disposed laterally around some doors, this is typically accomplished by providing a foam body such as a foamed polystyrene (Styrofoam) panel, and adhesively attaching a plastic or metal surface material. It is also known to provide a plastic or metal body that defines a box-shaped hollow internal volume, and to fill the hollow with a foam that is cured in the body. A foam core structure formed in one of these ways is advantageously light in weight and has good thermal insulation properties due to the air spaces trapped in the foam. However, foam core structures typically are not intended to bear any substantial structural loads. They are often readily distinguished from solid structures, which are considered of higher quality. Light foam core structures are sometimes considered cheap, and less desirable than more robust and durable solid structures used to bear loads and to carry weight.
It is an object of the invention to improve the structural integrity of buildings comprising finish framed elements that occupy spaces in structures comprising load bearing frame elements.
It is also an object of the invention to reduce or eliminate the need for substantial carpentry skill and attention to achieve accurate mounting of a finish framed element in a rough or load-bearing framed opening of a building structure.
It is another object of the invention to improve the appearance and structural robustness of window and door framing elements, including but not limited to doorway sidelights, while also reducing the difficulty of their installation.
These and other objects are accomplished by a finish mounted building element such as a window or doorway sidelight or the like that is mounted according to the invention in a space or opening provided in rough framing structures in a wall. In particular, facing sheets, preferably of sheet metal, are spaced to define a thickness, and are inserted and supported in slots provided in members to be disposed at the perimeters of the opening. The sheets are insertable into the slots by a variable or adjustable depth, which permits an inner opening defined by the sheet metal to be adjusted, e.g. for plumb or centering, or to ensure precise registry of openings in spaced sheets for opposite sides of the element, etc. The sheets and slotted members are supported in their final positions, e.g., being disposed in a supporting jig. The space between the sheets is injected with an expanding structural foam, which expands, preferably fills any remaining space and bonds to the sheets and slotted members, and is permitted to cure in place. This provides a wall panel with a correctly sized and correctly positioned internal opening, for example to receive a window frame or doorway sidelight or other insert structure. The slots for the facing sheets can be co-linear with the sheets or the slots can diverge such that injecting the foam between the facing sheets urges the facing sheets apart and locks the facing sheets in the slots by their edges diverging from a crease in the sheets at the openings for the slots. In any event, the foam urges the sheets to the outsides of the slots and fills any remaining space.
The sidelight construction is sufficiently strong as to the inherent materials, and moreover by the durable way in which they are attached together, that a conventionally dimensioned sidelight constructed as described can easily structurally support virtually any type of adjacent door panel (i.e., all but the very heaviest types), supplanting the need for reinforcing studs or the like at the positions they displace. The sidelights of the invention are particularly useful to improve the structural support provided to a hinged or latch side door jamb, and preclude the need for thick framing or reinforcing members in the same areas of the structure.